Newbi quastion size & theme

[shayvidas]

hi,
first of all i wached and read the forums here and you guys are doing some AWSOME graphic stuff !!!! really amazing (especially liked the TMNT pics)

so i'm starting out my CP graphics.
it's going to be 2 players CP, with 8 buttons per player (6 normal buttons + coin + start) , 2 joysticks (one for each player)
trackball with 2 buttons on it, a Spinner (the spinner is what i'm most excited about !!!!), and in the end 4 switches to do different things, (turn pc on\off, turn lights on\off, pause, turn sound on\off )
2 quotations,

1.
what about the measurements of it all i mean i'm opening a file in Photoshop but what about the size of everything ? can someone maybe point me to a ready file ? with the sizes for this kind of panel and i'll just work from there ? or something like that ?
i looked at the last 10 pages and found this link >
http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html
but it only tells of the size of the buttons \ joystick, not on the overall size....

2.
my theme for my CP is, ANIME, don't know yet what show or if it's going to be a spasific show at all... the thing is do you think it could work if i'll do a JLA (justice league, superman batman wonder woman etc...) style cabinet side, with this control panel ? or it's a huge no no to mix two different worlds in the theme ?

[JDFan]

Figure for printing you will probably want at least 300DPI (pixels per inch) - Some people use 150 but that can leave some distortions when printed or 600 but that seems to be overkill and makes for a much larger file size so 300 is a good compromise between detail and file size and is what most printers will accept for printing - by default PS opens new documents at 72 DPI (ideal for websites and display on monitors) so you will want to change that in the settings dialog when opening the new file and also on that same screen can select the size document you want to open (this size will depend on the actual dimensions of the CP you are making.)

For deciding on the size of the CP it is best to create a cardboard mock up of the thing first so that you can play with the layout of the parts and make sure placement feels right then use those dimensions for designing the artwork rather than creating the artwork first and designing the CP to fit that size as placement of the various parts is the most important part of creating a playable and comfortable CP ( of course if building a full system and not just a CP you will want to fit the dimensions to the rest of the cabinet as well so then it becomes more of a compromise of placement with space available )

As far as content that is pretty much a personal decision and something you will need to decide based on the design you are planning and the look you want (everyone will have their own opinion on content but in the end the CP is for your use so do a design that you like whether others agree with certain aspects of it or not since it is you who will be looking at it daily - so listen to the advice offered and decide whether to follow it or not based on your own preferences !!

Also one last tip - when dealing with a 300DPI image if you want to create button holes to 1 1/8 inch size you can use a circle shaped brush with a size of (300 x 1.125 ( .125 = 1/8) or 338 pixels since there are 300 pixels per inch ) so that one left mouse click at that size brush will create a 1 1/8 inch circle for the button hole.

[shayvidas]

Figure for printing you will probably want at least 300DPI (pixels per inch) - Some people use 150 but that can leave some distortions when printed or 600 but that seems to be overkill and makes for a much larger file size so 300 is a good compromise between detail and file size and is what most printers will accept for printing - by default PS opens new documents at 72 DPI (ideal for websites and display on monitors) so you will want to change that in the settings dialog when opening the new file and also on that same screen can select the size document you want to open (this size will depend on the actual dimensions of the CP you are making.)

For deciding on the size of the CP it is best to create a cardboard mock up of the thing first so that you can play with the layout of the parts and make sure placement feels right then use those dimensions for designing the artwork rather than creating the artwork first and designing the CP to fit that size as placement of the various parts is the most important part of creating a playable and comfortable CP ( of course if building a full system and not just a CP you will want to fit the dimensions to the rest of the cabinet as well so then it becomes more of a compromise of placement with space available )

As far as content that is pretty much a personal decision and something you will need to decide based on the design you are planning and the look you want (everyone will have their own opinion on content but in the end the CP is for your use so do a design that you like whether others agree with certain aspects of it or not since it is you who will be looking at it daily - so listen to the advice offered and decide whether to follow it or not based on your own preferences !!

Also one last tip - when dealing with a 300DPI image if you want to create button holes to 1 1/8 inch size you can use a circle shaped brush with a size of (300 x 1.125 ( .125 = 1/8) or 338 pixels since there are 300 pixels per inch ) so that one left mouse click at that size brush will create a 1 1/8 inch circle for the button hole.

thnx for the reply !
yes offcures i'm going to use 300 DPI,
thanx for the cardbox idea, don't know how i didn't though about that before,
B.T.W do you know what size should i do for the trackball \ spinner ?